Likes: Cuts extremely well and has excellent stability. Its blade guard and riving-knife assembly are locked and unlocked by a lever located conveniently along the table's left edge. A simple, separate shark-fin riving knife can be used when the guard is too big for narrow rip cuts. We appreciate the antiglare surface on the tape ruler that measures the distance from the blade to the fence.

Likes: The Hitachi ripped through Douglas fir, leaving a nearly glue-edge-quality surface. Blade height and angle setting adjust smoothly. Great small features: rack-and-pinion fence, a leveling foot on the fourth leg, and a spring-release throat plate. The only machine with an electronic brake to halt the blade after the saw is turned off.

Likes: Stout and accurate fence, and the blade guard goes on and off easily. We particularly like its Ind-I-Cut feature—a small plastic disk embedded in the table that you can mark with a pencil to indicate the position of the kerf.

Dislikes: Increasing tubing-wall thickness would improve the stand's rigidity and make for a more stable platform when cutting heavy lumber.

Likes: A solid little cutter with a sturdy, accurate fence and 18 inches of slide-out outfeed support. Its performance exceeds its small footprint.

Dislikes: The riving knife was not aligned properly with the blade, which made the wood skew slightly away from the rip fence during a rip cut. Adjusting it was more complicated than it should have been.

Likes:The industry's first worm-gear setup allows this saw to be compact and light enough to carry with one hand. Everything about this Skilsaw is fast, accurate, and rugged. Even though it was the test's smallest saw, its miter gauge has the longest T-slot bar at 12 inches, which is useful when mitering wide stock.

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